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Topic Review (Newest First)

12-26-2012 06:55 PM

Old Fool

IF the light fixtures you have are the 4 bulb type, run 2 conductors, one nuetral and a ground to each light. Wire one ballast to the black and white wires, the other ballast to the red and white wires. At the supply end use a switch for the black leg and a switch for the red leg. You will be able to turn on half the wattage when you dont need "task" lighting, yet with the flip of some switches, you can double your power bill.

Lets say you want 4 lighting zones, each zone would then have 2 levels of illumination by simply running 1 more conducter and a few more switches.

12-26-2012 03:40 PM

racersdad04

Quote:

Originally Posted by delawarebill

my garage is 24x40 and use a propane heater bout 80k btu. 8 foot high bay's with another 4ft ceiling thats open. takes bout 20 minutes to warm it up... i like tim's idea of the used oil burner.. u can advertise on craigslist for pick up of oil.. just get a 275 gal tank... as for lighting, my garage has 3 switchs, front middle and back lighting. turn on what i need. i also put in outlets where the lights are for ease of removal of lite if needed.
in floor heat is nice if u leave it one.. concrete takes tooooo long to heat if u use it a few times a wk

Since I usually am only home on weekends I think the floor heat is out. My garage now is heated with wood and a propane heater.

Plus I have a frame jig and tube bender bolted to the floor and have no idea of where these will go into the new garage, and we have a half track which is very heavy.

12-26-2012 02:35 PM

delawarebill

heat'n

my garage is 24x40 and use a propane heater bout 80k btu. 8 foot high bay's with another 4ft ceiling thats open. takes bout 20 minutes to warm it up... i like tim's idea of the used oil burner.. u can advertise on craigslist for pick up of oil.. just get a 275 gal tank... as for lighting, my garage has 3 switchs, front middle and back lighting. turn on what i need. i also put in outlets where the lights are for ease of removal of lite if needed.
in floor heat is nice if u leave it one.. concrete takes tooooo long to heat if u use it a few times a wk

12-26-2012 08:32 AM

timothale

floor movement.

by code my concrete footing had to be 3 ft deep, 16 in wide and 12 in thick with rebar horizontal and uprights every 4 ft for the fountdation walls.. I next formed and poured the foundation walls . In the main front door towards the street I had L shaped rebar coming out of the walls and half pointed toward the street and half toward the inside floor. that tied the driveway pad and floor to the foundation, the other 3 drive in doors, the floor floats and soil moisture made the back floor move up about 1/2 inch. I should have put in more tie rebar at all the doors.

12-26-2012 08:14 AM

timothale

garage ideas

In 2002 I built a 40 X 120 Ft, 16 ft high walls tin building. I wish I had put Radiant heating tubes in the floor in the working end. then I could have hung some canvas temp walls in the winter, to hold heat in one end. I just have a large wood stove and I would burn a backhoe bucket load every day and it was just a place to thaw out once in a while. We have relatives that run a commercial garage with 6 employees, and the doors open a lot of time in the winter getting customers cars in and out. He saves all the used motor oil all year to run in his boiler. his boiler is thermostat controlled and it runs all the time in the winter He used 6 in thick concrete with rebar and 6 x 6 12 ga mesh, . They laid 6 in of foam sheets over the gravel base. I put My 2 post lift in the middle of the shop. It should have had it's own access door near an outside wall. we get projects stacked in the way too often. My son is an elect contractor and one year he changed the shop lights in the work end to higher grade flouresent cold rated fixtures. I have the lighting Zoned with 3 way switches. He also put junction boxes in the ceiling so we can have commercial cord drops hanging down, and a pully -rope to pull them out of the way.I have a 42 circuit main box and 20 sub panel for future needs and everything has it's own dedicated circuit., welders, plasmas. saws, mill, lathe, etc.. we laid all the pvc conduit under floor, but had one break when they poured the floor, you need to watch the pour crew.

12-25-2012 10:11 AM

racersdad04

Lighting and heating

I need some suggestions for lighting in a new garage. It will be a 40' x 50'. I want to do the lighting in 3 sections. I have 4' and 8' flouresents in my garage now and want to see what everyone else is using for my new garage. I need to give some consideration to electric cost every month. Don't want to end up with a garage that I can't afford to turn the lights on in.

I really want a heated floor to. How long does it take to heat up a floor in say 20 degree weather the size of the one I am building? Does anyone have any idea or experience? I am also worried about weight on the floor. We have a military halftrack and RV that will go into the garage at times. Has anyone had bad experiences. Plus it needs ac for the summer. Anyone have thoughts on this?